Marta was introduced to Santos fans today. She will be the main name of the side in the women's version of Copa do Brasil and Copa Libertadores. She will be on loan for 3 months from Los Angeles Sol. The Copa Libertadores will be from the 4th to the 18th of October. The Copa do Brasil will run from September 15th to December 15th.

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* This is the last time I'll write on WPS for a while, I swear. Unless SI hires me to do "The Marta Experiment" or something.

American citizens pay more attention when Lady Gaga burps on television than when New Jersey's Sky Blue FC wins the WPS championship.

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Saturday's exhibition between the University of Denver men's soccer team and Stanford has been moved to the Colorado Rapids' practice field at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City. The game time has been changed to 4:30 p.m., and admission will be free. Denver opens the regular season at the Duke Classic in Durham, N.

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Sky Blue FC spent its 2009 season embroiled in turmoil, both on and off the pitch. The New York/New Jersey-based franchise waddled near the bottom of the WPS standings for a good part of the season and saw two head coaches leave the organization. But the club clawed its way to two road playoff victories, then pulled off the mother of all upsets, as one strike off the foot of Heather O'Reilly coupled with some gritty defense and some timely breaks enabled Sky Blue FC to claim the inaugural WPS championship over the host Los Angeles Sol 1-0 Saturday afternoon at the Home Depot Center. Click to continue reading...

We were at the first game of the WPS season as well as the last (and many inbetween). And what a season' it's been.

Sky Blue FC completed its storybook rise from bottomfeeder to league champion with a dramatic, 1-0 victory over a valiant, 10-woman Los Angeles Sol side, whose remarkable season ended in bitter disappointment at their home park.

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We were at the first game of the WPS season as well as the last (and many inbetween). And what a season' it's been.

Sky Blue FC completed its storybook rise from bottomfeeder to league champion with a dramatic, 1-0 victory over a valiant, 10-woman Los Angeles Sol side, whose remarkable season ended in bitter disappointment at their home park.

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Los Angeles Sol striker Marta plays with the baseball as if it were a soccer ball before throwing out a ceremonial first pitch in Dodger Stadium at the MLB National League baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles, California, August 17, 2009.

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Los Angeles Sol striker Marta plays with the baseball as if it were a soccer ball before throwing out a ceremonial first pitch in Dodger Stadium at the MLB National League baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles, California, August 17, 2009.

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It's Playoff Time!

The WPS Championship Game will take place this Saturday, August 22, at 1pm Pacific at the Home Depot Center. The Los Angeles Sol will host the Sky Blue FC (Watch on Fox Soccer Channel at 7pm EST).

Women Talk Sports' Ann Gaffigan will be there to see the action in person and get updates to those of you without Fox Soccer Channel (or those of you who have it and would like to join the conversation!

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It's Playoff Time!

The WPS Championship Game will take place this Saturday, August 22, at 1pm Pacific at the Home Depot Center. The Los Angeles Sol will host the Sky Blue FC (Watch on Fox Soccer Channel at 7pm EST).

Women Talk Sports' Ann Gaffigan will be there to see the action in person and get updates to those of you without Fox Soccer Channel (or those of you who have it and would like to join the conversation!

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Naperville native relishing opportunity with WPS's 1st-place Sol
Neuqua Valley and Notre Dame grad Brittany Bock is continuing to add chapters to her already storied local soccer career. CLICK HERE for my feature on the Naperville native and her successful inaugural season with Women's Professional Soccer's championship-bound Los Angeles Sol. Click to continue reading...

Check out my Examiner.com feature highlighting this Sunday's anticipated Brazilian showdown: the Chicago Red Stars' Cristiane and the Los Angeles Sol's Marta. This is the last home game of the Red Stars' inaugural Women's Professional Soccer season. The Red Stars are expecting one of their biggest crowds of the season for this clash against the first-place Sol. Click to continue reading...

Does Liking Women's Soccer Make You Gayer?

I love soccer. And I'm pretty sure I love women. So why don't I love Women's Professional Soccer? Or do I, secretly? These are questions I fear to answer because any serious soul-searching might uncover the misogynistic pig within. That, or I'll end up stripping away a vestigial layer of macho-callous that has kept me straight and largely insensitive to the needs of women through the years.

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Today was one of the few home games I didn't attend at the Home Depot Center, and the No. 1 ranked LA Sol suffered a loss at the hands of the Saint Louis Athletica. Would the outcome have been different had I been there? Probably not but I still feel a bit guilty.

Despite the loss, the Sol remain in first place the WPS standings at 11-2-4 (37 points), while the Athletica tighten their grasp on second with a 23 points and 7-5-2 record.

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Last-place Chicago should utilize three attackers the rest of the way
I have never been a fan of a one-person attacking formation at the start of a soccer game. Nursing a one-goal lead or holding out for a road draw, those are different stories.
Unless you have Marta as that one attacker, you are setting yourself up for a midfield/defensive battle, with your main weapon being some quick counterattacks. Click to continue reading...

Another week, another effort by the Los Angeles Galaxy to pick up the full three points.

Following their seventh tie in eight matches last week at FC Dallas, the Galaxy will host the Kansas City Wizards Saturday night in the latter of a busy day for professional soccer at the Home Depot Center.

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Just prior to the start of the Women's Professional Soccer season, global sport lifestyle brand PUMA and WPS announced an exclusive partnership making PUMA an official founding partner of the new league and an official sponsor of all WPS franchises.

The multi-year partnership makes PUMA the official sport and lifestyle apparel, footwear and equipment supplier of WPS, including the official WPS Match Ball.

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All you Futbolitas in the USA who're following the Women's Pro Soccer League can now get your hands on one of these Marta premium bobblehead dolls for US$29.99!

The unique, limited-edition bobblehead will only be available to fans who purchase the Sol's Marta Bobblehead Ticket Package (seriously, who is behind all this?

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CARSON, CALIF. – Wednesday, May 13, 2009 – The Los Angeles Sol (Women's Professional Soccer) today unveiled a bobblehead doll depicting Sol forward and Three-time FIFA Player of the Year, Marta.

"The Marta bobblehead is sure to quickly become a collectors' item," said Los Angeles Sol General Manager Charlie Naimo.

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Los Angeles Sol fans were hoping for a win this afternoon so they could double their pleasure by getting free tickets to the June 3rd Chicago match but it wasn't meant to be.

Today's game marked the second meeting between the Sol and the Boston Breakers. LA lost to the Breakers 2-1 last Saturday at Harvard Stadium and the Sol were looking to rebound from their first lost of the season.

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Women's Professional Soccer made a promising debut Sunday as a crowd of nearly 15,000 at The Home Depot Center in Carson watched the Los Angeles Sol defeat the Washington Freedom, 2-0. A highlight of the afternoon was no doubt Los Angeles forward Marta, named as the Women's World Player of the Year for the past three [. Click to continue reading...

Women#8217;s Professional Soccer kicked off in the US yesterday. A better than expected crowd of 14,832 turned up at the Home Depot Center to see Los Angeles Sol beat the Washington Freedom (can#8217;t decide if I like those team names yet) 2-0. The big draw was Brazilian maestro Marta, pictured above signing autographs for the #8220;Marta [. Click to continue reading...

This is tough for me to admit, but when I first heard that the WPS was being created, I was very skeptical about another woman's football league. Sure I understand that the WUSA didn't last due to the quality on the pitch but because of it's pathetic management. It was just hard for me to get behind a product that I had already discarded in my mind as something that wouldn't be around two years Click to continue reading...

Yo que soy aficionada a los deportes, fútbol, fútbol americano y el basquetbol, que un super estrella en el basquet como es Kobe Bryant, jugador de los Lakers de Los Angeles, te compare con Lionel Messi es que eres su ídolo, ésto le ha pasado a la brasileña Marta Vieira da Silva. Como buen deportista, [. Click to continue reading...

I'm going to take a quick break from the men's team to cover the ladies. Even if you don't care about women's football, I advise you to stick around (as opposed to skipping to the bottom) because what's happening has been rather interesting.

At least Lyon are on target for one European trophy.

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The stars of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), including three-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year, Marta, number one WPS draft pick and Olympic Gold Medalist, Amy Rodriguez, and US National Team midfielder and Women's World Cup bronze medalist, Leslie Osborne, unveiled the league's Puma designed home and away uniforms in New York last night at a [. Click to continue reading...

Phew - I feel like it's been a long time since I sat down with some good strong coffee and just caught up here. There's lots of news in the soccer world as the WPS season kick-off is just weeks away!  March 29th, to be exact.  (I should probably think about taking a day or two [...] Click to continue reading...

All images courtesy of the Los Angeles Sol. One of the seven new franchises for the inaugural season of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) will kick off with a nationally televised game with the Washington Freedom on 29 March. Fox Soccer Channel will televise a Sunday night game of the week, and the Sol are scheduled to [. Click to continue reading...

I'm loving the warmer temps here in NH, as the sun rises on this February Sunday! Have you heard of Jennifer Figge?  She just completed the amazing feat of swimming from the Cape Verde Islands to Trinidad ... at the age of 56.  (And I can't even get myself to exercise for 15 minutes these days!)  [. Click to continue reading...

January 16, 2009 - Followed the 2009 WPS Draft on Twitter this morning, and it was no suprise when the Boston Breakers selected Amy Rodriguez with the first pick. Beyond the A-Rod pick, tweets let us know in near real time the other first round selections: 2nd: Chicago Red Stars select Megan Rapinoe  3rd: FC Gold Pride select [. Click to continue reading...

January 14, 2009 - Just days away, the 2009 WPS Draft will take place Friday at the NSCAA Convention in St. Louis (at America's Center) and the Boston Breakers have the first pick. Friday could be the most influential day in terms of the early success for each club and while the core of most teams is [. Click to continue reading...

There's quite a bit on the soccer news front, as you may have guessed from the headline this morning.  The WPS has held its combines on the East and West coasts, and is gearing up for its draft on Friday, January 16th.  (That's this Friday, folks!)  Here's some nice video from the West Coast combine [. Click to continue reading...